Nigeria rebel disarms under amnesty

Thousands of rebels in Nigeria’s volatile Niger Delta have surrendered their weapons, after they accepted a government offer of amnesty, reports say.

Umaru Yar'Adua

Local rebel leader Government Tompolo arrived in Warri on Sunday, after promising to support Nigerian president Umaru Yar’Adua in return for a pardon.

He was among the heads of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC), blamed for halting a large portion of oil in 2003 from the Nigerian west delta.

The leader of another group, the Ijaw Niger Delta Vigilantes, Ateke Tom, and five thousand fighters also surrendered arms in the city of Port Harcourt.

However, Tom said that his group would restart attacks if the Nigerian government did not follow up on their promise to invest in the area, saying that “if they refuse to develop our region we will go back to the creeks.”

Internet access off in west Africa

SAT-3 cable damage caused internet blackouts in multiple west African countries including Benin, Togo, Niger, and Nigeria. Togo and Niger were “completely offline” and Benin was able to “reroute its net traffic through neighboring countries.”

SAT-3 Map

However, the three nations were able to use alternative satellite links in order to maintain some Internet communication with the rest of the world. Nigeria suffered a 70% loss of bandwidth that caused problems in banking, government and other mobile networks.

President of the Nigeria Internet Group, Lanre Ajayi, said, “[the cable is] a critical national resource because of its importance to the economy and to security.”

Two weeks may pass before the cable is fixed.

Religious violence spread over Nigeria

Religious violence resulted in at least 150 deaths in two days after a series of attacks in several Nigerian cities. Bauchi in Bauchi State, Maiduguri in Borno State, Potiskum in Yobe State and Wudil have all been attacked.

Islamic Nigerian States

The battles began on 26 July when Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group, attacked a police station in retaliation for the arrest of its leaders.

Police responded with their own retaliation and a curfew fell on the area.

The attacks spread and by the next day corpses were located at police stations, people were fleeing their homes and some were being pulled from their cars to be shot dead as police stations burned to the ground.

Nigeria releases key rebel leader

Henry Okah, a guerrilla leader of the MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), is released from detention after accepting an amnesty offered by the Nigerian government.

Henry Okah leader MEND

MEND has claimed responsibility for attacks on oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, often through the use of sabotage, guerilla warfare or kidnapping of foreign oil workers. The rebels’ goal is to destabilize the foreign oil interest in the Niger Delta, who they claim have been exploiting the local populace.

Okah was arrested in Angola and deported to Nigeria in February 2008, and charged with 62 counts of treason, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and arms trafficking, faced the death penalty.

Shell to Pay $15.5 Million to Settle Nigerian Case

Royal Dutch Shell settles a lawsuit for US$15.5 million over its alleged involvement in the executions of nine people, including environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, in Nigeria.

The lawsuits are three separate lawsuits brought by the family of Ken Saro-Wiwa against Royal Dutch Shell, its subsidiary Shell Nigeria and the subsidiary’s CEO Brian Anderson, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York under the Alien Tort Statute, the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1992 and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

Largest cut in OPEC’s history

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has drastically cut the daily production of oil by 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd). In a decision reached in Oran, Algeria, energy ministers from all 12 OPEC members agreed to make the largest cut in OPEC’s history.

Oil prices have fallen from a high of $140 in July to just around $40; a decrease of $100. OPEC has cut 4.2 million bpd since September, when the price of oil decreased suddenly over fears of a global recession and lower usage of oil.

With this new decrease, production by OPEC members will be 24.845 million bpd. Saudi Arabia is taking the majority of the cut by decreasing their production by 1.2 bpd.

Riots in Nigeria kill nearly 400

According to a French journalist and the imam of the local mosque, around 400 people have been killed in the riots that erupted due to a dispute in the result of the local elections.

The riots are taking place in the Nigerian city of Jos, which is located between the Christian and Muslim areas of Nigeria.

On this day November 10, 1995

Playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People were executed by the Nigerian military government.

Ogoni Flag created by Ken Saro-Wiwa

In January 1993 MOSOP organized peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people more than half of the Ogoni population  through four Ogoni centers, drawing international attention to his people’s plight.

The same year, Shell ceased operations in the Ogoni region, while the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily.